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Last week I participated in a civil society seminar with the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank (EIB). It was a very interesting and timely event.

Our President, Jana Hainsworth, spoke about how the European Union Investment Plan – and particularly the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) – can support growth and jobs in Europe. She highlighted that the social sector is composed of many different organisations, such as non-profit service providers, non-profit organisations mainly engaging in advocacy work, social economy enterprises and voluntary organisations. These organisations have different financial needs. Their needs also differ from those of businesses, including small- and medium-sized enterprises.

This should be the starting point to develop instruments to finance the sector. Unfortunately, financial institutions and policy-makers are not always aware of the diversity of the social sector and tend to provide one-size-fits-all responses.

Jana stressed that it is very difficult for the social sector to engage with EFSI. EFSI works mainly through loans, which are not the most suitable financing instrument for the social sector as a whole. EFSI, and in general all financial mechanisms used by the European Investment Bank are devised with a top-down approach. Considering that social services are usually provided at local level, she asked how the EIB can involve the local level and respond to the real needs of people on the ground.

During the debate I asked a question about the role of the EIB (through EFSI or other instruments) in contributing to sustainability of long-term financing of services to ensure the continuity of service provision to people in Europe. In a context where public funding is shrinking, is there a role for the EIB? The EIB and private funding in general support projects. Therefore they do not ensure a long-term approach which is what is needed when it comes to service provision.

From the analysis of our members, it emerges that EFSI can be used to support the development of social infrastructures (e.g. schools, hospitals, elderly homes, childcare facilities), while it lacks specific instruments to support the provision of social services. Our member the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) has commissioned a soon-to-be-published study that shows that, based on information gathered up until December 2015, EFSI does not include any instruments aimed specifically at social service providers and the social economy. At the moment, EFSI funds can be used to strengthen existing financial instruments provided by the EIB and the European Investment Fund, In some cases service providers and social enterprises do have access to these instruments, but this remains an exception

Our member Housing Europe highlights that risk assessment of investments is a key concern, since investing in new social housing infrastructure is not “risky” but is a long-term investment with low financial return. As such does it qualify for EFSI? The social housing sector can generate multiple socio-economic benefits, but the small size of these projects as well as the general economic conditions in some EU countries (particularly those in southern Europe) are still obstacles to the greater involvement of the EIB and the use of EFSI.

The concerns raised by Jana, EASPD, Housing Europe and me are just the tip of the iceberg. As such, there is an urgent need for a regular dialogue between the financial institutions, public authorities and the social sector. We therefore welcome that EIB provided the setting for an informal dialogue on this topic and we are confident that this will continue, starting from the tools that are still being developed under EFSI.